Grandma Becki and Grandpa Bob's Visit

Grandma Becki and Grandpa Bob came to visit us and to celebrate Grandparent's Day at school with the girls. We were so excited to have them visit! As usual our time was action packed. They arrived on Wednesday afternoon, but the real fun began on Thursday when they went on Kaylee's field trip to the Lenawee County Historical Museum with her and her class. They had a great time there learning about the history of Adrian. Friday morning was the actual Grandparent's Day celebration where they enjoyed a nice breakfast followed by a program put on by the elementary kids. Kianna's class sang a couple of songs and quoted Psalm 23, while Kaylee's class put on their own performance. The girls had an early dismissal, so Grandma Becki and Grandpa Bob took them out to lunch at Applebee's for a special treat. Afterwards the girls spent the afternoon shopping with Grandma Becki and of course each got to pick out a special something (Trace got something too of course). Our evening was spent enjoying the school's drama "Seussical The Musical". The drama team are very talented, especially for being at such a small school. Trace had a chance to meet The Grinch up close and personal, but explainably was a bit freaked out, so passed. On Saturday, Grandma Becki and Grandpa Bob were able to watch the girls' soccer games. Unfortunately the weather was cold and rainy, but the girls had fun nonetheless. That afternoon all of us girls went to see the movie "Mirror Mirror", which was fun. That evening, Bob and Becki treated us to dinner at PF Changs. We only eat there about once a year, if that, so we thoroughly enjoyed the yummy food (all 1800 calories worth and yes, that was just my meal). Trevor and his dad followed dinner up with their own movie. We had such a nice visit and look forward to seeing them again soon. Can you believe I forgot to take any pictures? Ugh!

Like Father Like Son

Trevor has been filling in as the assistant coach for the varsity baseball team this season. He is really enjoying getting to know the older kids and investing his time with them. I had to share this adorable photo that we received recently of Trace with his Daddy in the dugout.

Easter 2012

Our Easter fun began on Friday with our prayer walk at church followed by the Good Friday service. The prayer walk is always a nice time to reflect on the sacrifice Jesus made to save us from our sins so that we can spend eternity with him in heaven. Thank you Jesus!

On Saturday, we went back to church for an Easter egg hunt. The kids had fun and got tons of candy! The rest of the day was spent preparing food and the house for Easter Sunday. It was quite exhausting...

On Sunday, the kids had a great time getting their Easter baskets, which they had been eagerly anticipating. Trace's basket included a Spiderman umbrella, soccer cones, new shirt, and candy. Kianna's basket included a "What's In The Bible" DVD the girls had been telling me about from chapel services at school, a dress, soccer cones, and candy. Kaylee's basket included some Adventure's In Odyssey CDs, socks, a dress, shin guards, and some candy. The kids had more fun in church celebrating Christ's resurrection, while Trevor and I helped out in Trace's preschool class. We made resurrection rolls with 23 preschoolers, which went pretty well minus one or two boys. The rolls are a pretty neat object lesson for the kids. The crescent roll represents the tomb, the marshmallow represents Jesus' body, the butter represents the oil that was used to annoint Jesus' body prior to his burial, and the cinnamon and sugar represent the spices used to prepare his body for burial. Once the marshmallow is dipped in the butter and spices then it is sealed in the tomb and baked. The kids are then able to pull open the tomb only to discover that their marshmallow (Jesus) is gone, just like on Easter Sunday so many years ago. It was fun to see the awe and excitement on their little faces when they discovered that Jesus wasn't there. They also enjoyed eating their tasty snack. 

We invited our good friends, The Miller's, over for an Easter egg hunt and dinner. Trevor had 125 eggs loaded with loot and hidden all over our backyard. The kids had a great time hunting for their eggs and enjoying their candy. Followed by a yummy dinner served on my Grandma Gaskill's China. It was fun eating on her special plates and bowls, which I so fondly remember using at her house so many years ago. After dinner, the adults managed to fit in a game of Cities and Knights while the kids played. It was a wonderful day!

Spring Break Blues

The girls are on Spring Break this week and instead of having tons of fun, we got stuck hosting our old friend "strep throat". The kids all got diagnosed on Thursday and Friday of last week, which brought about tears as the girls had to miss their pre-Spring Break parties at school. Kianna missed her Easter Egg hunt and Kaylee missed out on a movie and a swim party. Both were rewards she had earned for reaching her reading goals for the month of March. What a bummer they were to miss!!!

On Saturday evening, I made a last minute decision to take the kids back to Iowa for a few days, that is until I woke up on Sunday morning feeling the early symptoms I had recognized a few days earlier in the kids. Bummer dude! I was under the weather until Wednesday, when we did our first "fun" Spring Break activity of going to the zoo with friends. We had beautiful weather and enjoyed our day, although it started out a little rocky. Kianna was excitedly running down the ramp when we first arrived and took quite the fall. It was a horrible fall in which she proceeded to do a somersault in slow motion down the cement ramp while I watched her neck extend backwards. It was a physical therapist's nightmare of a fall. I prayed while I watched it happen that she wouldn't break her neck. Thankfully all she came away with was a scraped belly and hand. Once the Band-Aid was in place, all was well again although I still thank God she didn't hurt herself worse! The rest of our week was pretty uneventful that is until our Easter festivities began, but I'll save that for another post...